"The conclusion of a 2000 report by the World Commission on Water predicts that the increase in water use in the future due to rising population numbers will 'impose intolerable stesses on the environment, leading not only to a loss of biodiversity (species extinction), but also to a vicious circle in which the stresses on the ecosystem (will) no longer provide the services for plants and people." ("A Water Secure World: Vision for Water, Life, and the Environment," Reproted in Mittelstaedt, Martin, "World Water Use to Soar to Crisis Levels, Study Says," The Globe and Mail, March 14, 2000) [02.10.01.01]

"Water required to produce one pound of U.S. beef, according to the national Cattlemens' Beef Association: 441 gallons" ("Myths and Facts About Beef Production: Water Use," National Cattlemen's Beef Association) [02.10.01.02]

"Water required to produce one pound of U.S.beef: 2,500 gallons" (per Dr. George Borgstrom, Chairman of Food Science and Human Nutrition Dept of College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan State University, "Impacts on Demand for and Quality of land and Water," Presentation to the 1981 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) [02.10.01.03]

"Water required to produce 1 pound of California beef: 2,464 gallons" ("Water Inputs in California Food Production," Water Education Foundation, Sacramento, CA ) [02.10.01.04]

"Water required to produce one pound (lb.) of California foods:

• 1 lb. lettuce: 23 gallons
• 1 lb. tomatoes: 24 gallons
• 1 lb. wheat: 25 gallons
• 1 lb. carrots: 33 gallons
• 1 lb. apples: 49 gallons
• 1 lb. chicken: 815 gallons
• 1 lb. pork: 1,630 gallons
• 1 lb. beef: 5,214 gallons

(according to Soil and Water specialists, Univ. of Calif. Agricultural Extension, working with livestock farm advisors: Schulbach, Herb , et. al., in Soil and Water, No. 38, Fall 1978) [02.10.01.05]

"In California, the single biggest consumer of water is not Los Angeles. It is not the oil and chemicals or defense industries. Nor is it the fields of grapes and tomatoes. It is irrigated pasture: grass grown in a near-desert climate for cows... The West's water crisis --- and many of its environmental problems as well --- can be summed up, implausible as this may seem, in a single word: livestock." ("Cadillac Desert", by Marc Reisner) [02.10.01.06]

"Nearly half the water consumed in this country is used for livestock, mostly cattle." (Audubon Magazine, Dec. 1999) [02.10.01.07]

"Irrigation to grow food for livestock, including hay, corn, sorghum, and pasture, uses 50 out of every 100 gallons of water consumed in the United States." (Frances Moore Lappe, Diet for a Small Planet, 20th Anniversary Edition, Ballantine Books, New York, 1991, pg. 76) [02.10.01.08]

"Only within the last half-century have we acquired the ability to use powerful diesel and electric pums to empty aquifer in a matter of decades... Around the world, as more water is diverted to raising (cattle), pigs and chickens, instead of producing crops for direct consumption, millions of wells are going dry. India, china, North Africa, and the United States are all running freshwater deficits, pumping more from their aquifers than rain can replenish." (Ayres, Ed, "will We Still Eat Meat? Maybe not, if we wake up to what the mass production of animal flesh is doing to our health, and the planet's," Time, Nov. 8, 1999) [02.10.01.09]

"The amount of water that goes into a 1,000 pound steer would float a (Naval) destroyer." ("The Browning of America," Newsweek, Feb. 22, 1981, pg. 26) [02.10.01.10]

"Nearly half of all the waters off the coast of the United States are so damaged they cannot fully support aquatic life" ("EPA Report Finds Nearly Half of Coastal Waters Damaged, Not Fit For Life", http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/coastal_waters020403.html, April 3, 2002, by Bob Jamieson ) [02.09.30.01]

"A major threat to estuaries is pollution from farms and lawns, from roads and construction sites borne hundreds of miles by rivers including the Mississippi. The Gulf of Mexico, the EPA said, collects pollutants from 40 percent of the land in the continental United States" ("EPA Report Finds Nearly Half of Coastal Waters Damaged, Not Fit For Life", http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/coastal_waters020403.html, April 3, 2002, by Bob Jamieson ) [02.09.30.02]

"Unfortunately, the Gulf of Mexico has been treated as somewhat of a sewer by the rest of the United States," said Mark Muhich of the Sierra Club" ("EPA Report Finds Nearly Half of Coastal Waters Damaged, Not Fit For Life", http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/DailyNews/coastal_waters020403.html, April 3, 2002, by Bob Jamieson ) [02.09.30.03]

"Study finds over 80% of U.S. streams and rivers are contaminated with a broad array of medical drugs, including hormones, antibiotics, antidepressants, and heart medications, as well as chemicals from personal care and household cleaning products. The first U.S.-wide study of pharmaceutical pollution of rivers and streams offers an unsettling picture of waterways contaminated with antibiotics, painkillers such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, steroids, synthetic hormones used in contraceptives and hormone replacement therapy, antidepressants, and other commonly used drugs, as well as chemicals found in beauty aids, household cleaners, and foods." (Washington Post, March 13, 2002) [02.09.30.04]

"Scientists have long known that as much as 90 percent of ingested drugs are excreted from the body in a still potent form. Other substances, such as stale coffee and unused prescriptions, are often flushed directly down toilets or poured down drains. Scores of those chemicals might not be removed from wastewater at sewage treatment plants and some of the compounds might end up in drinking water." (Washington Post, March 13, 2002) [02.09.30.05]